What's in a Name?
by Haysel McKalister
Summary: When Hufflepuffs Megan Jones and Zacharias Smith are paired up together on a Muggle Studies project, they could have never imagined that things would get this complicated, or that an egg would be responsible for bringing them together.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note:** Everything is J.K. Rowling's, much love and credit to her. Most of the characterizations are based off of ones established by some amazing writers who've been in various HP RPGs with me as time has gone on, and seeing as how almost everyone mentioned in this story was a minor character in the book, I want to give props to the folks who solidified the characters in my head. So... here are your props. Put them back on the table when you're done with them, or the stage manager will kick your butt. Most of this is built off of the canon established in my first game ever, with a few dates switched around, And... yes. That's all she wrote._

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What's In A Name?

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Megan had always had a strange fascination with names. Honestly though, she blamed this on the fact that her own name was the most boring and simple name ever to exist. Megan Jones. She didn't even have a middle name. Ten letters, five per word, that was supposed to make up the whole of her entity. And if that was the case, she had a really boring entity.

Of course, she couldn't really blame her mum for giving her an overly common name. Not when she'd gone through her childhood being named _Hestia_. "Your grandmum had a strange sense of Greek mythologically tilted humor," Hestia would answer her daughter when she would ask why Grandmum and Grandpa Clark gave her her name, and that would be the end of that. Hestia probably enjoyed the name Megan for the simple fact that it was simple, which was probably the same reason Megan loved really odd names like Zoey and Xelda.

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"Who spells Zelda with an X?" Susan asked Megan skeptically, reading over Megan's shoulder as she scribbled down another word out of her book, adding it to the ever-growing list on her piece of parchment.

"And who buys a baby name book unless they're planning on having a kid sometime in the near future?" Hannah asked as well, having caught a glimpse of the cover of Megan's choice of reading material. "Am I going to be an aunt soon!" she gasped jokingly, flopping down onto the foot of Megan's bed and craing around so that she could read as well.

"Only if I end up carrying the next Jesus baby," Megan answered with a laugh as she flipped her red hair out of her face and turned the page, wrinkling her nose as she read the name on the top. "Yacelia? Nah, too forced," she decided.

"The Princess of Jubitsu?" Susan asked curiously, reading the definition of another name further down on page 325. "What's a Jubitsu?"

"Isn't that a kind of dog?" Sally-Ann suggested from the doorway as she made her way inside, tossing her Potions textbook onto her bed and joining the group crowded around Megan's.

"That's a shitzu. I'm not sure what a Jubitsu is," Hannah answered knowledgably, her Aunt Julia having had one of those dogs when she was little. She'd never be able to forget that dog, it having had a strange taste for her Barbie dolls. There was nothing like finding Doctor Barbie's head in the dog dish to officially cause a tiny little dog to terrify a girl forever. "And that still doesn't explain the book, Meg."

"It's for our Muggle Studies project," Megan explained, folding the piece of paper she'd been jotting down her favorite names on and sliding it inside the book to mark her place before dropping it onto the floor and turning towards Hannah. "I guess that when muggles are in secondary school, they do this thing where they're supposed to raise an egg for a week, name it and everything, and then it... becomes a chicken or something," Megan assumed. Professor Penrose hadn't explained all of the details yet. "And then if it doesn't hatch right, then it's supposed to mean you'll be a bad parent when you're older. I think."

"It doesn't turn into a chicken, you dip," Shannon laughed at Megan, having been listening in on their conversation from her own bed, where she'd been working on her Arithmancy homework. "My sister Quinn did this last year at her school. You just need to keep the egg from getting cracked."

"Cracked like insane?" Sally asked, her jaw gaping. Muggles apparently had very dangerous eggs.

"No, cracked like cracked, you doof."

"Oh."

"Well _anyway,_ Zacharias and I got paired up for this, and he said that I could name it as long as he doesn't hate the name with a fiery passion," Megan finished her story as soon as Shannon and Sally quit yammering. "So I asked mum to owl me this thing so that I could "peruse my options"," she finished proudly, satisfied with herself for using big words.

"OooOooo, you and Zaaaaach?" Hannah nudged her roommate. Susan looked up confusedly, feeling as though she'd missed something. Megan liked Zacharias? Since when? Didn't she like Justin? Why did no one tell her these things?

Megan clearly had missed the something that Hannah was on about as well. "What is this "Oooo" thing? There is no "Oooo"."

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much..." Hannah smirked, crossing her arms and looking at Megan as though her secret was out.

Megan, however, just thought that Hannah was off her nut. Where in the world was she getting this? "Come off it, Hannah, there's no "Oooo"! Besides, I'm pretty sure he's still ticked at me for getting Quidditch captain over him."

"Alas, my only love sprung from my only hate!"

"WILL YOU STOP QUOTING SHAKESPEARE? Besides, that one doesn't even make sense!" Megan whined at the blonde pigtailed prefect, feeling herself blushing and knowing before long her face was going to be just as red as her hair. "And whatever Hannah, I'm telling Ernie you like Justin."

"You wouldn't DARE... I mean no I don't shut up," Hannah sputtered. Susan just looked relieved by this turn of events. It was Hannah who liked Justin secretly, not Megan. She knew that. Okay. She wasn't being left out of things after all.

"Did you know that there's an undercover agency in Tibet that has started filling chicken eggs with Dyslexidapia? They inject it right into the shell. Makes folks go all wonky in the head. It's some sort of government ploy to keep folks distracted, a scare tactic and all that," Sally explained seriously, liking the topic much better when it had just been eggs, rather than relationships. The rest of the 7th year Hufflepuffs pretty much rolled their eyes in unison, knowing that once Sally got onto her government conspiracies subject, it was hard to get her to stop.

"Well. That is certainly not egg-cellent," Megan giggled, then pushed her way between Susan and Hannah to hop off her bed to her feet. "But if you'll excuse me, I have a very egg-citing Quidditch practice to get to." And with the aide of a few bad puns, Megan scooted out the door of their room, happy to escape the potential for that conversation to go on any longer.

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_**Author's Notes: **So I feel a bit silly about throwing an author's note in here now, because I'm working on typing up chapter as soon as I post this jazz. Still though, reviews make me happy, so this is my moment of asking you to humor me._


	2. Chapter 2

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Chapter 2

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"Okay! That was really great flying out there today, everyone! Absolutely brilliant!" Megan congradulated her Hufflepuff quidditch team cheerfully. So what if she was lying a little? Or a lot... "There are a few things that I definitely think we can look to improve on for next time though," she stressed, trying to sound as positive as she possibly could about that fact.

"A few?" Zacharias scoffed, glaring at Owen Cauldwell angrily while rubbing the spot on the back of his head that had _accidentally_ collided with Owen's Beaters bat. The fourth year just shifted uncomfortably under Zacharias's stare, eyes cast downwards.

Megan pretended not to notice the fact that Zacharias was clearly being sarcastic. "Yep! Just a few," she continued cheerfully. "First of all, yes Owen, you need to remember that Zacharias's head is not a Bludger. Can you work on that for us?" Owen nodded without looking up from his staring contest with the ground. "Okay, good. And Morgan, I know you've been feeling a bit wonky lately, but we need you to be going after the snitch, not running into the commentator's booth. You're a better seeker than Slytherin's could ever hope to be, so I'm sure you'll be back on your game before the match against them. Eloise, has the bleeding stopped yet?"

"I dink id albost has," Eloise nodded, still laying on the snow covered grass while holding a towel up to her nose.

"Awesome. Alright. Everyone, go get inside before you freeze to death. One more practice before Christmas hols, yay!" Megan cheered, attempting to still appear energetic despite the fact that she was just as worn out as the rest of the team after that disaster of a practice. They'd get better though, she hoped. And hey! Who was to say that someone hadn't bewitched Owen's bat to attack the players instead of the Bludgers? Megan knew Owen had better aim than he had displayed that day.

After dropping off their equipment and spotting Zacharias trudging back to the changing room through the snow a few yards ahead of her, though, Megan figured she could fret about Beaters bat bewitching later. "Hey Zach!" she called after her curly haired housemate as she scurried up to him. "Zachi... Zacharias!" Finally caching up to him, Megan tapped him on the shoulder and gave him a little wave before spinning around to walk backwards ahead of him. "Hey! I was calling you."

"Were you really, Meg Mega Megan?" Zacharias asked her, having heard Megan calling the whole time. It was COLD out though, and he didn't want to hang out in an impending snowstorm any longer than he had to if Quidditch practice was over. "Yes I was," Megan replied, any sarcasm in Zacharias's comment flying over her head. "Is your head doing any better?" she asked him, gesturing to the spot where he'd gotten rammed by Owen's bat as she glanced behind her to make sure she wasn't going to accidentally trip over anything while walking backwards.

"I should live," Zacharias assured her. "My millions of adoring fans would be devastated otherwise."

Megan frowned, as she always felt a bit odd when people made jokes about death, especially given the way that the war head been going outside of the castle's walls. "Don't joke about that. I would cry, and then my face would get all red and splotchy, and you know you don't want to be responsible for that."

"Your face would match your hair, though," he suggested.

"My hair is not splotchy!" Megan scoffed, subconsciously running her fingers through her hair to double check on its unsplotchiness.

Zacharias shot her a dumbfounded look, it making his brain hurt a bit that this ditz had taken his well-earned spot as Quidditch captain. "...I was more or less referring to it being red."

"Oh," Megan laughed at herself, feeling her face growing warm out of embarrassment, despite the fact that her cheeks were already pink-tinged from the cold. "Well, I just wanted to say good job today, and thank you for not killing Owen when his bat freaked out and tried to give you a concussion."

"You're too easy on Cauldwell, Meg," Zacharias reported matter of factly. "You've got enough... pep for the whole of us, and I think you're brilliant with coming up with plays, which you should feel special about because you know how I am with compliments." Megan nodded, knowing this very well. Zacharias continued. "But it's not going to do you a bit of good if no one takes you seriously as captain, though."

"Why do you have to be mean for people to take you seriously?" Megan asked him, genuinely curious.

Zacharias shook his head. "Not... _MEAN_, mean. Just not... nice."

"I see."

"Good."

Megan sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "I can't be mean to people."

"Why not?" Zacharias asked her, also genuinely curious. Mean was simple. The whole "being nice all the time" thing, though, now _THAT_ seemed hard.

"Because I just can't. OH! QUESTION!" Megan interrupted herself, finally remembering a good way to change the subject. "Should our baby be a boy or a girl?"

Zacharias, instead of answering her, proceeded to stare at Megan as if she had three heads. "Our WHAT?" he asked incredulously.

"You know! The baby, in the Muggle Studies _egg_-speriment," Megan explained, curious as to how he could have possibly forgotten something like that. Then again, Muggle Studies was Megan's all time favorite class, and she was planning on doing something with Muggle/Wizarding relations after she left school. Most of her classmates, though, tended to take it purely for an easy O.

"You mean our egg?" Zacharias almost snorted, once he realized what she was talking about. Leave it to Megan Jones to take a project in _Muggle Studies_ wayyyy too seriously. Megan nodded happily, glad that Zacharias had remembered. "Um... I don't know? Maybe..." he trailed off, trying to figure out a way to escape this conversation. "Maybe we should wait and see what it looks like before giving it a name?"

"You're RIGHT!" Megan agreed, nearly shocking Zacharias off his feet with her outburst. "How horrible would that be if we decided to name the egg Tamera, and it ended up looking like a Steve!"

"...I'm sure it would be traumatized. You're going to run into the wall."

"I'm wha.." Megan started to ask, only to collide with the wall of the building, having still been walking backwards, not paying attention to how close they were getting to the locker rooms. "Oops."

"Good job, Jones. I'll see you in the commons," Zacharias just smirked at his clumsy housemate before disappearing into the boy's half of the changing rooms.

"Megan leaned back against the door to the girl's locker room and groaned. She hadn't been lying in the slightest when she told Hannah there was nothing between her and Zacharias. No "OoooOooo", no fireworks, nothing. At least, it was kind of obvious that there was nothing like that as far as Zacharias's feelings extended to Megan, except for maybe eternal amusement at her abilities to constantly make a total doof of herself in front of him.

Megan, on the other hand, thought that life had been much simpler when she was sure she returned his lack of feelings.

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**Author's note: **Woo teen angst! More minor characters popping up soon, which is fun, because minor characters are what makes the world go round.


	3. Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

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It was more than obvious that, despite the fact that they had a new assignment to work on, it was going to be extremely difficult to keep the students in the seventh year NEWT Level section of Muggle Studies on task that Friday. Not only was it their last class before Hogsmeade the following day, it was their last class at ALL before the start of the Christmas Holidays. Professor Penrose was doing his best to keep the class on topic.

"Class, I realize that you're excited for shopping for gifts and things tomorrow, but just think! Today you get to experience, er, the gift of life!" he groaned at his own bad joke, shaking his head as he passed out an egg to each group of two, most of whom were echoing his sentiments about the lameness of their professor's sense of humor.

"Sir, my gift of life seems to have not hatched yet," Michael Corner snickered, laughing at his own dumb joke. His partner, Daphne, rolled her eyes and mumbled something about how she thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be mature.

"This is a good thing, Mr. Corner," their Professor assured him. "You see, class, unlike an egg's many other purposes, muggles use these as a model for children to help prepare people for parenthood. They believe that we originally all start out as eggs, so this comes quite close to the real thing. Now, while, thank Merlin, I'm sure not all of you will be becoming parents," Professor Penrose noted, shooting a rather obvious glance in Gregory Goyle's direction, causing Su Li to sigh hopelessly at her misfortune of getting paired up with him, "there _IS_ a chance you will all have someone to care for someday, be them child, parent, spouse, a friend. And typically in their final years of schooling, muggle teenagers will learn to hone their caretaking skills through an experiment much like this. An egg-speriment, if you will," he added as he continued passing out eggs to the final pair of students in the back row as Megan Jones laughed just a little bit too hard at his quip.

"Now, typically the muggle students will be paired up, much like you have been yourselves. They have things much simpler. They're just supposed to keep the egg from breaking. But," Professor Penrose said with a smarmy grin as he reached the front of his classroom again, hopping up to sit on his desk, "you all know how much more complicated we wizards like to make things. The eggs you have in front of you have a variety of charms placed on then," he explained, watching with amusement as Zacharias tossed his egg into the air and caught it again like a ball, while Megan turned slightly pale as she pictures what impending doom their egg would befall if it fell. "Today is December the sixteenth. You will have until January the sixteenth to be a parent to these eggs. You will name them, protect them, share the parental duties with your partner. However, unlike with the muggles who do this project," Professor Penrose added with a raise of his eyebrow, holding up one of the extra eggs from the basket for a visual example, "I'll be able to make sure you didn't just leave it abandoned in your trunk for the month. There have been several very powerful recording charms placed on these fellas, which will let me know who it was with, how much time it was with each "parent", if it underwent any trauma during its stay, and so on and so on. So basically, Mr. Smith, it would be in both you and Miss Jones's grade's best interests if you desisted with playing egg toss.

Zacharias gave the egg one last toss up into the air, and Megan grabbed it away from him, shooting an appalled glance his way. Zacharias shrugged. It was just _Muggle Studies_.

In the back of the room, Wayne Hopkins waved his hand in the air. "Professor Penrose, the holidays have almost approached us!" Wayne stated in his very Wayneishlike way. "What are we to do if both of us will be going home? I am not sure if Mel Spinks and I will be seeing much of each other over the break."

"Yeah, like none at all. My parents are taking me and Sophie skiing. How am I supposed to take care of an egg and stuff while I'm learning how to ski?" Mel continued Wayne's question. "I don't think "Excuse me Mr. Gorgey Swedish Ski Instructor, I have to go feed my _egg_ would be a very good pick up line." Sophie Rivers mumbled something about that being "so totally not mervyfab" from the seat behind Mel.

"And Professor, what happens if there's... an accident?" Theodore asked the young Professor, a grin spreading across his face that made Megan glad she was paired up with Zacharias instead of him. Theodore Nott had always kind of given her the creeps, what with his rarely blinking staring habit thingy, and the fact that she'd heard some not-so-happy stories about his father from her mother. Luckily for her, though, ever since her tiny little panic attack in Charms fourth year after getting paired up with him, most of her professors had been very nice about not grouping them together.

If Professor Penrose was at all unnerved by Theodore's cryptic question, though, he certainly didn't show it. "Don't any of you panic. I have the answers to all of your questions here with the other requirements," he assured them, pointing his wand towards one of the classroom's cabinets, the doors springing open to reveal a large pile of scrolls. "Feel free to pick up a syllabus before heading out, and if after looking over it you still have questions, hunt me down to ask. And as for any accidents, Mr. Nott, it'd be best if you try to avoid those," he responded just as cryptically to the weedy blonde Slytherin. "And unless any of you having any burning questions right now, you're dismissed early. Have a good holiday," he finished his spiel, sliding off his desk and beginning to tidy up the classroom. Most of the students took this early dismissal to heart straight away, grabbing an Info Scroll and dashing out of the room, thrilled to be starting their holiday a bit early.

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"What about Jillian?" Megan asked Zacharias, examining their egg carefully as Zacharias stuffed his mouth full of potatoes. The seventh year Hufflepuffs had claimed their usual spot at the end of their House table, and while most of the others had spent the beginning of dinner chattering about Hogsmeade the next day, Megan was still trying to settle on the perfect name for their egg, baby name book in one hand and their still unnamed "child" in the other.

"Jillian would be tempting the wrath of Mother Goose," Sally chimed in from across the table. Both Zacharias and Megan looked at her as if her nose had suddenly dropped off. Sally explained herself. "Well, the point of the project is that you don't want the egg to get hurt, right? Remember Jack and Jill? It's a death wish," Sally nodded seriously. "Jack fell down and broke his crown..."

Zacharias groaned and rolled his eyes, but Megan looked deeply concerned, nodding understandingly. "And Jill came tumbling after," Megan finished the rhyme, crossing Jillian off her list of potential names, as well as Jakki, just to be safe. "Okay then... what about Lita?"

"That's what Morag named ours, actually," Ernie explained, not looking very happy about this. "Not like I got much of a say in it either way." Megan just giggled, crossing the name off her list as well. Ernie had been none too pleased to be paired up with the crankypants that was Morag MacDougal. "You're a trooper, Ernie Macaroni," Megan grinned at her friend, then glanced over to the Ravenclaw table, only to spot the permanently angry tiny blonde that was Morag telling off an unlucky firstie for bumping into her.

"Yes, well, troopers apparently don't make Head Boy," Ernie huffed, looking in the Ravenclaw table's direction as well, but instead glaring at Stephen Cornfoot. It just didn't make any sense to Ernie. Stephen wasn't even a bloody PREFECT.

"Careful there, Ernie. You're getting your bitterness all over my chicken salad," Justin informed his indignant roommate, knowing that Ernie was probably once again going down the list of reasons in his head as to why he should've been Head Boy and not Stephen, ending with Justin's personal favorite, "Who in the world gives a rat's arse about anything bloody Stephen Cornfoot has to say!"

"I am NOT bitter," Ernie snorted, as if the idea of him being bitter about something was absolutely and entirely impossible. "I'm just very..."

"Grudge-holding?" Sally suggested from a few seats down the table.

"Yes. No!" he insisted, rising to his feet. "I'm not having this conversation. I'm supposed to meet with Luna," Ernie rushed, leaving his Housemates to finish their dinners as he moved over towards his floaty blonde girlfriend, who seemed to have begun talking about something having to do with carrots extremely vividly and excitedly, orange vegetabley props in hand.

"I still don't get it," Zacharias stated frankly, not understanding why in the world someone as well grounded and sensible as Ernie was seeing Loony Lovegood.

"Maybe her Knarfles ate his brain," Hannah giggled, stirring her peas and trying to ignore the tiny twinge of jealousy that crept up on her every time she saw them together.

"Well, I think it's cute," Megan said quietly, finally beginning to dig into her supper, when another name popped into her head. "OH! Oh, I know! What about Kelsie?"

"You know what, why don't we just call it Egbert and be done with it, Meg?" Zacharias asked exasperatedly, really wishing that his ginger-haired housemate would shut up about the damn egg already. NO ONE in their right mind took Muggle Studies this seriously.

Megan, however, was not in her right mind, and looked down-right offended by this suggestion. "_Egbert_! Don't you know all Egberts grow up to hate their parents? Besides," Megan added, flipping one of her pigtails over her shoulder, "she's a she."

"It's an EGG!" Zacharias cried, throwing his hands up in the air. Megan just looked at him.

"You're grouchy tonight, Zacharias."

"Do not worry, Megan," Wayne piped up from his seat, his own egg laying nestled in the small makeshift bed Wayne had created from a tissue box next to him. "It took Mel Spinks and I a very long time to decide on a name as well," he assured her. "We finally decided on Kirke, because I like the name, and Mel Spinks likes Andy."

"Hmm," Megan pondered this. "Do you think that Myron would be an okay name to give an girl? He _is_ a Weird SISTER..."

By this point, Zacharias had heard more than enough. "Okay, no more talk of eggs, because it's making me want to scramble our project for breakfast." Megan's jaw dropped, completely horrified by the thought. "Merlin, Jones, I was kidding!"

"Oh. Right, heh heh, I knew that." None the less, Megan was fully intending on keeping Baby Jones-Smith for the night, just in case. She knew how Zacharias ate.

"Okay. Narrow down your list of names tonight, and we can meet up in Hogsmeade tomorrow at some point, and you can let me know what it's named there. That'll give you plenty of time to decide," Zacharias suggested, wanting to finish his meal in peace. "I should probably start Christmas shopping anyway," he added in an afterthough.

"START? Wow, I'm already finished. HEY! This'll be great; I can help you!" Megan offered, not planning on taking no for an answer. The egg was momentarily forgotten, however, as Megan pondered possible shopping possibilities.

Well. That certainly hadn't been in his plans for the next day, but at least now he wouldn't have to go alone? "Great, fantastic, wonderful, whatever," Zacharias said, standing up, his tone clearly not as joyful as his words. "See you tomorrow then."

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**Author's Note:** Hehehe, Zach is kind of a jerk. I love it. Next time, Hogsmeade, old ladies with canes, an appearance from Megan's mum, and... other fun scary things, hehehee.


	4. Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

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Whether the students of Hogwarts realized it or not, Hogsmeade was even more crowded that day than it would have been normally a week before Christmas. Not only were the shops flooded with teenagers, the small wizarding town was also littered with several members of The Order of the Phoenix, placed undercover by a recommendation from the school's Headmistress and Order leader, Minerva McGonagall. Despite the Ministry's latest attempts to once again try to downplay the escape of several Death Eaters from the seemingly defunct Azkaban prison, they were out there, and McGonagall wasn't about to take any chances when it came to the safety of her students. Aside from the typical hussel and bussel that went along with last minute Christmas shopping, though, Hogsmeade seemed quite calm.

Megan, however, was by far the most frightening person that Zacharias Smith had ever shopped with in his life. Just looking at her with her hair in braids, freckles, and absolutely ridiculous striped hat with a puffball on top, it'd be hard to believe that this girl let loose in a store could be hazardous to a person's health.

It's true, though.

"THIS IS PERFECT!" Megan squealed with glee, picking up some sort of strange blue orb thing as Zacharias flinched at the noise that had just come out of her mouth. No human should be able to produce that high of a pitch, and now his ear drums were paying for it. "What _is_ it?" he asked Megan, looking at the thing skeptically.

Megan looked between Zacharias and the ball in her hand, frowning. "I'm... not positive. It's just so _Wayne_ though, so get it. Darnit. Oh hey, look at this!" she cried, grabbing something pink and fuzzy right from under an elderly woman's hand and tossing it over to Zacharias, who promptly grabbed it and set it right back down on the shelf.

"Oooohkay, I think that is enough shopping for now..." Zacharias decided, seeing as how the old woman who'd been going after the ugly fuzzy thing seemed about ready to smack Megan upside the head with her cane. Because Megan could object, Zacharias grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the store before the enraged grandmother could call for backup.

Once the two were back outside, the snow thankfully falling more lightly than it had been when they'd gone in, Megan fixed her hat and threw her scarf around her neck an extra time. "I could have taken her," Megan stated, looking as evilly as she could manage back towards the door of the shop.

"She was about to take you out with her cane, Meg."

"It wouldn't be the first time that's happened."

"... Really?" Zacharias laughed, raising an eyebrow.

"I have really horrid luck with little old ladies," Megan explained cryptically, then shrugged, smiling again. "So, where to next?"

'_Somewhere that doesn't involve you getting bludgeoned to death by the elderly_' Zacharias thought to himself, trying to come up with a quick remedy to Megan's shopaholic syndrome. "Well... how goes the egg name search?" he asked as a last resort.

It seemed to work well enough as a distraction, though. "Oh! I've figured it out. Are you okay with the name Zoë?" Megan asked, pulling the egg from her pocket, where it had been riding safely throughout their shopping spree. "I was torn between that and Anya, but I enjoy the E with the two little dots over it thing," she explained, just in case Zacharias had confused the way she wanted to spell it with the version that ended in 'ey'. "Oh, and the meaning of the name is,"

"Zoë sounds like a great name," Zacharias interrupted. "Zoë it is. Zoë the egg." He was just pleased that they could finally move on from that topic, and Megan would finally stop toting that damn names book around with her to meals.

"We have a name! Victory is ours!" Megan cried happily, not noticing the odd stares she was getting from the people walking past, wondering why a seventeen year old girl was so happy about an egg. Carefully placing the eggish Zoë back into her pocket, Megan turned to Zacharias, a questioning look on her face. "I have something else to ask you."

"Zoë does _not_ need a middle name."

"Sure she does! I don't have one and I don't want her to feel deprived or anything. But that's not my question. It's actually about _your_ name," Megan explained to Zacharias as they walked by a few of the stores in the snow, waving or nodding in acknowledgement when they spotted one of their mates. "So, honestly, do you prefer Zacharias or Zach? Does it bug you when people shorten it?"

Zacharias had to think about this for a moment; no on had ever really asked him flat out about it before. "Well... I don't know. Both are fine, I guess. I think it's more of a "my friends call me Zach" kind of thing, really."

Megan nodded. "Zach it is, then."

Zacharias couldn't help snorting a bit at this new development. "So wait. You suggested naming the egg D'jajecolette, and yet you're asking permission to call me Zach?"

"Well, yes. I suppose I like to think that we're friends," Megan answered quietly, looking down at the ground, suddenly taking an extreme interest in the way that the snow was covered in various boot imprints. Fascinating stuff, that wacky snow. All nice and clean and white and not embarrassed because it doesn't say stupid things.

Zacharias looked just as caught off guard by Megan's statement as Megan was that she'd honestly said that out loud. "Well... we are." Zacharias frowned. '_Way to make things weird, Jones_.' "So. Zach then."

Despite the fact that Zacharias was willing to at least admit they were friends, Megan's number one goal at the moment was to make the evil awkward silence go away. "Awesome! Definitely Zach then. Like Zach attack! Or Zach the Lego Maniac!" Megan rambled at hyper speed, every through that popped into her head flying out of her mouth. "Did you have Legos when you were a little kid? I didn't, but my friend Enid? She's a muggle, and her brother had all the Legos ever, it seems like. And her brother is named Zack too! Isn't that absolutely mad? Of course, his version of Zack is with a K and is short for Zackary rather than Zacharias like yours is, so it's kind of the same thing but not really and hey, is that my Mum?" Megan blurted out onto the end of her monologue, grabbing Zacharias's arm and pulling him in the direction that she'd apparently spotted her mother, as Zacharias tried his best to figure out how Megan could have possibly said that many words in that short an amount of time.

Sure enough, sitting at one of the snow covered tables outside of the Three Broomsticks was Hestia Jones, looking like she'd much rather be sitting inside where it wasn't snowing. Zacharias looked between Megan and the older black haired witch. Besides the very distinct contrast in hair color, there was absolutely no mistake that the two were related. The man who was sitting with Mrs. Jones, however, Zacharias didn't recognize.

Megan did, though. She'd been seeing a great deal of Mr. Sturgis Podmore over the last year, and Megan still wasn't quite sure how she felt about it. For as long as she could remember, it had always been just Megan and her mum, her dad having died when Megan was still quite young. And while Hestia had gone on dates every once in a while over the years, nothing had ever really gotten all that serious. This thing with Sturgis, though... Megan wasn't sure what to think of it. He seemed like a really nice, kind of quiet guy, but even just mentioning his name made Hestia get kind of a goopy look on her face. It weirded Megan out.

"Hi Mum... hey Sturgis," Megan added as a quick afterthought as she and Zacharias reached their table. "What are you doing here? Don't you usually work Saturdays?" she asked, fidgeting with the ends of her hair as Zacharias stood by, feeling out of place, not sure how much attention he should be paying to Megan's conversation with her mother.

Hestia threw a quick glance to Sturgis before answering her daughter. "They were overstaffed in my ward, so I figured I'd take the day off to finish up some other business," she explained nonchalantly, although Megan took her meaning right away. Her mum was on Order business.

"Ohhh, like Christmas shopping for yours truly?" Megan grinned, not sure whether or not Hestia caught that Megan had gotten her meaning. Megan still wasn't sure if she was supposed to let it be clear even to other members of the Order that she knew of her mother's part in it, Hestia having warned her in the past that quite a few of its members wouldn't be all too keen on someone her age knowing about it. (Of course, Megan also hadn't been told about the several Gryffindors in her own year who were more than aware of the Order...) Megan knew that Sturgis was aware that she knew, but considering that Zach was there too, playing dumb would probably be for the best.

"That may be a part of it..." Hestia trailed off, glancing up at Zacharias. "So are you going to introduce us to your friend?" Hestia asked, shooting another one of _those_ glances Sturgis's way, who continued to sip from his mug of butterbeer silently.

Zacharias decided that this would be a good time to start paying attention again, seeing as how he was the topic of conversation. "I'm pretty sure you've met Zach before, Mum," Megan thought out loud. Hadn't she? When would that've happened? "Well anyway, Zach? This is my mum and her friend Sturgis Podmore. Mum, Sturgis, this is Zacharias Smith. He's going to be fathering my child."

This announcement caused Sturgis to practically begin choking on his butterbeer, having nearly spit out his drink over the shock of this proclamation. Zacharias stared at Megan, not sure if there was a worse possible way that she could've phrased that statement. And in front of her _mother_! And her mother's... rather angry looking friend, who was currently shooting him a look that would probably kill him, if it was allowed to go on for much longer. "You're new to English, aren't you, Meg?" Zacharias muttered quietly enough so that only Megan could hear him.

Hestia looked all too calm, considering the explosive announcement Megan had just made, and merely raised an eyebrow in amusement at how her daughter had chosen to phrase things. "Oh, so Zach is the lucky fellow you were telling me about. I see. Did you decide on a name yet?" she asked.

"You _knew_ about this?" Sturgis sputtered, dropping his death glare at Zacharias and turning in disbelief towards Hestia. The woman was a Healer, for Merlin's sake. You'd think she would have at least better explained certain... protection charms to her daughter to prevent things like this from happening while she was this young, if she was THAT unable to control her urge to do _THAT_. Sturgis had pretty much been under the impression that Megan was one of the most naively innocent girls her age, but to find out that she was... oh Merlin. Images. Mental pictures please stop now, ow, Sturgis pleaded with his brain.

Hestia rolled her eyes at her panicky friend. "It's an egg, Sturgis love."

"Yes, they all do start out that way, don't they?" he muttered, deciding this would be a fantastic time to recommence with his death glaring.

"It's for a Muggle Studies project," Zacharias finally spoke, realizing that Megan probably just didn't get that it sounded an awful lot like he'd 'dropped off his mail at her house while playing parcel delivery worker'. "It really is an egg. I promise," he assured the adults, rubbing the back of his head and looking to Megan to explain herself in a bit more detail. Maybe he could just reach in her pocket and _show_ them that there really was an egg... no, that just made it look like he was grabbing for the no-no regions, which caused both of the adults to throw him a look. "You're looking _very_ lovely today, Mrs. Jones, heh heh, Hey MEG," Zacharias nudged the girl sharply, finally getting her attention. "Why don't you show them the egg?"

"Oh! Right!" Megan nodded, reaching in her pocket and revealing the egg. "This is Zoë Jones-Smith. She doesn't have a middle name yet, but we'll find her one. " Megan continued to further explain the assignment, and Zacharias was just relieved that Mr. Podmore seemed to have gotten much less tense since Megan had pulled out the actual chicken egg. _'Honestly. Zach will be fathering my child. This is why we think first, then speak,_' Zacharias thought, trying to mentally send this concept Megan's way through brain waves.

"...And then we were thinking about maybe naming her Lita but I guess Morag named her and Ernie's Lita and we didn't want to copycat on names or anything so..." Megan kept right on about the project to her mother, who appeared to be listening interestedly, but was actually running over the current shopping list of things she still had to get done in her mind. Sliding into the conversation at the first available opportunity, having been waiting and watching for her daughter to take a breath, Hestia interrupted Megan's ramblings, rising to her feet and fixing the bits of her fringe that was sticking out from under her hat. "Honey, I don't think that Zach here wants to spend his day in Hogsmeade hanging out with your parents. Er, well, your mum and her bloke." Megan couldn't stop wondering why in Helga's name her mum kept giving Sturgis that look. What that supposed to be subtle?

Okay, so it was subtle enough for Megan to not be able to figure out what it _meant_, but still. She'd caught her mum in the act at LEAST three times that day alone.

Megan could (sort of) take a hint, though, and pulling her tacky green and orange and yellow and pink striped hat over her ears, nodded in agreement to her mother's statement. "Okay. I can tell you more about it Monday," Megan replied, having forgotten for a moment that she'd be going home for Christmas in two days.

"See you Monday, love," Hestia nodded, hugging her daughter and turning towards Sturgis, who was currently adjusting his bright turquoise fuzzy earmuffs. "I think we should probably stop in at Dervish and Banges before it closes, don't you?" she hinted. Sturgis took one last drink of his butterbeer and began to nod, only to catch Zacharias smirking at his fluffy winder ear-garb. Realizing he'd been spotted, Zacharias quickly substituted his amused grin with as angelic a smile as he could muster. "Wonderful meeting you both," Zacharias said goodbye to them hurriedly, beginning to back away from the small family reunion. Megan waved goodbye to Sturgis and started off after Zach.

"Be careful and stay out of trouble!" Hestia called after Megan and Zacharias. Megan stopped in her tracks, looking back to her mum and rolling her eyes. "Oh please. Does Ringo glow in the dark?" she called, then dashed off after Zach, needing to catch up.

Sturgis looked uneasily at Hestia. "_Does_ Ringo glow in the dark?" he asked, not quite understanding the reference, and not quite sure if he _wanted_ to. "He's also blue," Hestia laughed, shaking her head. "Have you ever met Megan's cat?"

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**Author's note: **Wooooo typing up handwritten fic from a notebook takes a ridiculously long time. BUT! Next time, things start to get complicated, as creepy scary fellows like girls with bright hair, heh heh . .

And to answer the lovely **firnoviel**'s question, Megan is a character in the Harry Potter universe, who was mentioned in the list of students in Harry's Year which J.K. Rowling released a few years back. Basically, all that was established by J.K.R. was her name, and any characterization for her thusfar hasn't been established in the books. She exists, though! Barely, but she's there, hehe. Thank you for asking!


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